Eldoret: A Boer settlement

Map of Kenya with a mark in Eldoret

Eldoret is a kenyan city who was built in the twentieth century by boer-afrikaners.  The firsts to come here were Van Breda brothers in 1903, in 1905 arrived franz arnoldi and his family but in 1908 came the first big influx of boer families(47) under the leadership of Jan Van Rensburg, with them were prefabricated houses, wagons, ploughs, cattle and sheep, most of these people had few resources and lost their farms and properties in the Anglo-Boer War, amogst these families were van Dyk, von Landsberg, Bekker, de Beer, van Rensburg, Venter and Kruger. Since they were more skilled than british farmers they played an important role in development of agriculture and farming in the region of Eldoret. In 1911 arrived more 60 families. After that the children needed schools but the boers disagree with english language taught in school and after negotiations, the british government in Kenya financed afrikaans speaking schools due to the great importance of the Afrikaners in the area.

In the beginning, life was hard, the area was untamed, Paths had to be cut through the bamboo bushes of the Rift Valley to get out of the área, and there were no incentive or investment made ​​by the government on agriculture and farming , the boer settlers had to develop the region with little resources. Yet with all these adversities the Boers were able prosper manly with wheat farming.

The first NGK(Nederluits gereeformede Kerk) Church in Kenya was founded in  1908 in the house of Franz Arnoldi after that, many churches were built in the Eldoret area. In the first world war some boer-afrikaners in kenya fought for the british forces against Germany.

 

At some time the boers made up 20% of the white population in Kenya!

In 1960, The boers were responsible for producing 60% of wheat in Kenya!

Thereafter began the decline of the Afrikaner population in the region of eldoret and Kenya in general with the growth of anti colonialism and rebel nationalist forces, it is also reported an increase in attacks on the afrikaner community. In 1965 there were only 300 afrikaners in Kenya!

Currently very few afrikaner families live in Kenya and these are descendants of the first trekkers like the Kruger family which still has several acres of land and is dedicated mainly to wheat.

The construction of eldoret by the boers is very impressive and portrays the boer spirit, It is an extraordinary achievement a group of poor boers, dispossessed of their properties have built a city out of nothing facing a lot of difficulties and obstacles. This achievement shows how the Boers are dedicated to the causes who embrace causes and also how hardworking they are, not turning back to any challenge.

Eldoret has now 195 000 people